Resources

Chemistry 101 Recipe: Science of Food and Cooking

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Inside USD -- The heated temperature for the pot of developing panir cheese curds was working perfectly as University of San Diego students stirred them on the kitchen stove. All the while, a natural connection between food preparation and science was also at its boiling point for the better.

“There’s a national movement now to use the chemistry of food and cooking to look at basic principles of science,” says Peter Iovine, PhD, associate professor of chemistry who for the second Intersession in a row, is teaching Chemistry 101: Science of Food and Cooking, to USD students. “This is a most appropriate class for non-science majors because it teaches them how to think critically about food, cooking and underneath, we hide all of the good science. They learn a good deal.”

Iovine, who first taught the course to 25 USD sophomores in a Second-Year Experience Study Abroad trip to Florence, Italy, is enjoying teaching to the nine USD students who signed up for the on-campus version. Still in its infancy, the idea of bringing food and science together is also an-campus collaboration. Iovine enlisted USD’s Dining Services to open its farm-to-table-inspired restaurant, La Paloma, so students could cook in a natural kitchen setting and prepare different foods each Thursday during the three-week course. (Full Story)